The best home delivery treats for Easter in Slavonia

Missing the market? You need not. In the powerhouse of Croatian cultivation, there are many places online to where market traders, small producers and artisan food makers have turned. Facebook groups for Osijek-baranja, Daruvar (both fantastic), Bjelovar, Orahovica (also great), Osijek and Baranja again, are notable online marketplaces which will put you into direct contact with small, local growers and producers. National websites such as Žuti klik, Osijek's Naruči2go, Burza hrane, Fino.hr and Agro tržnice have a good offer. Others include online stores Pinklec (which is fully organic). Supermarkets Spar and Konzum have recently made space on their shelves for the produce of markets traders too. Greencajg and Bio & Bio's full range of organic products remains available online.

Slavonian kulen is a richly-red smoked pork sausage, prepared using only the finest cuts of the pig. The sausage is quite lean, moist and slightly piquant from the paprika and garlic which are used to flavour it. Traditionally, the home-reared pig only contained enough premium meat to make just one kulen, so this is a real treat. As such, it's never cooked or used as an ingredient, but savoured in thin strips, paired with good bread, cheese and a sharp Slavonian white wine like Traminac or Graševina. Kulen from the neighbouring Baranja is much the same, though perhaps slightly denser, leaner and, owing to the region's close proximity to Hungary, sometimes spicier, with a greater amount of hot paprika used. The traditional shape of Baranja kulen is a big indicator – it's an irregular shape, almost like an unformed mass of clay.

The flatlands of the Pannonian basin contain huge tracts of untouched forest and uncultivated meadows allowing wild flowers and herbs to flourish alongside the large fields of sunflowers and rapeseed which are grown there. All impart their flavours into the honey grown in Slavonia and neighbouring Baranja, where beekeeping is a long-held tradition. There are more than 400 registered beekeepers there today, producing more than 200 tonnes of honey each year.  

In contrast to the inclines of Dalmatia, a limited terrain that helps produce many amazing red wines and olives, the flatlands of Slavonia are the Croatian pantry, their rich soil offering up a whole range of premium vegetables, nuts, fruits and other produce. Although some great red wine is made here, it's for its white wines that Slavonia is best known, not least Graševina and Traminac. Graševina is the most made wine in Croatia and nowhere in Slavonia, or Croatia, is more famous for making it than Kutjevo. Handily, one very popular maker's wine is called just that, Kutjevo Graševina, so it's easy to remember a good one. Brilliant examples of Graševina wines are made by Krauthaker, Galić, Trs and Adžić. Other must-try white wine varieties grown in Slavonia include Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Pinot Gris and Sauvignon Blanc, but the second most-exemplary variety is probably Traminac. Iločki podrumi's is really wonderful. Again, Trs do a great one, with Kolar and Enjingi offering similarly superior examples. There are many, many more amazing Slavonian wine producers to look out for, from the justly-lauded Antunović's range to the incredible bargain that are Erdut wines. Osijek's Vinoteka Vinita has a simply brilliant selection of wines, not just from Slavonia, but from across Croatia and further still.

Quality ales are cheaper by home delivery than standard beer in most bars, so now is a great time to spoil yourself and discover Slavonia's brilliant offer. Daruvar's 5th Element make a range of great craft beers like the Bonner Bohemian Pilsner, which rivals their standard Lela lager as one of the best of its kind in Croatia. The range contains up to nine different beers and you won't find a bad one among them. More highlights include the flavoursome American Blonde Ale and their delicious wheat beer. Beckers is named after an Austrian commander who rebuilt Osijek's old city in the 1700s. Its founder Bojan Pap was once head brewer for Zagreb's Zmajsko but moved back home and started his own brewery. Their brilliant pale ales and other beers are now available in cans and can be ordered by emailing beckerscraft@gmail.com. Bjelovar's Zeppelin Craft Brewery have an American amber ale and a Golden ale, both of which are great, plus a porter and a wheat beer available with free delivery, not only in Slavonia but across Europe via The Wine & More. Although not Slavonian, The Garden Brewery, Varionica, Nova Runda and PriMarius beers are also available for home delivery in Slavonia.

Though perhaps not immediately identifiable, Croatians have their own distinct style. While teenagers elsewhere will sulk if their tracksuits and trainers are not made by a specific brand, Croatia's youth are confident enough to wear smaller brands because they know themselves what looks cool. And, Borovo shoes from Vukovar are way cool. From smart boots and casual trainers to stylish shoes and sandals, they cater for men and women of all ages and with each new season manage to help define the near-intangible Croatian style.

Always wanted to look like one of Slavonia's cool kids but can't afford a tractor? No worries. Slavonia has some great short cuts to getting the perfect Pannonian style. Lega-lega offer not only the best souvenirs you could gift someone after visiting Osijek, they are also much-loved by locals. You can see their sharply-designed t-shirts being worn across the Slavonian capital. Their notebooks, fridge magnets, diaries, coasters and badges are great too. Lega, short for 'colleague', is an affectionate term used between the city's residents. Hardkoo is a Slavonian social media group whose members take a sideways swipe at life in Slavonia, the wider region and, well, life in general, via memes, screenshots and photos. Very much a youth culture set, their admin make great logo t-shirts which, if worn, will see you hi-fived by any young Croat you may come across in any part of the world.

Other Croatian regions might bask in the international recognition of their pršut (prosciutto) but, make no mistake, Slavonians are true masters of the pig. Wild boar and regular pork can be used to make one of the region's best dishes, čobanac, a rustic meat stew coloured red by paprika. Smoked pork sausages, kobasice, and češnjovke (a version flavoured with extra garlic) are Slavonian specialities, as is čvarci, fried pork rind (known in the UK as pork scratchings). There's an authentic regional breed who's meat is prized particularly highly and some say this Slavonian black pig produces the best bacon (slanina) money can buy.

The ice cream store may be closed but the home bakers, cake and cookie makers of Slavonia are so resolute, you could quite believe Noah's son and his Croatian wife missing passage on the Ark due to her determination to get one more quick round of kiflice from the oven. Everything from pancakes, drenched in chocolate and nuts and traditional sponge rolls, flavoured with rich, black streams of mak (poppy seed), to classic, family-sized tortes, cute biscuits and apple or cherry-flavoured pastries like strudle are still widely available from online markets, cake shops and some bakeries.